Saliva Test For Alzheimer’s Disease Is Now One Step Closer Thanks To New Findings

Two University of Alberta scientists, namely, Liang Li and Roger Dixon, identified three biomarkers that detect mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, as well, and which pave the way to a saliva test for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.

By using a powerful mass spectrometer, the researchers examined saliva samples from three sets of patients, including Alzheimer’s disease patients, as well as those with mild cognitive impairment and with normal cognition. The scientists studied more than 6,000 metabolites to determine changes between the three groups of participants in the study.

“We found three metabolites that can be used to differentiate between these three groups,” said Li who then added that “while the results show promise, the sample size was small.”

“If we can use a larger set of samples, we can validate our findings and develop a saliva test of Alzheimer’s disease,” Liang Li added.

Saliva Test For Alzheimer’s Disease Is Now One Step Closer Thanks To New Findings

“So far, no disease-altering interventions for Alzheimer’s disease have been successful. Researchers are aiming to discover the earliest signals of the disease so that prevention protocols can be implemented,” also said Roger Dixon from the University of Alberta, who added that the three biomarkers might be used with success for Alzheimer’s disease treatments testing for efficacy.

“Using the biomarkers, we can also do testing to see what types of treatments are most effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease, from diet to physical activity to pharmaceuticals,” said Liang Li.

The first part of this study, titled “Metabolomics Analyses of Saliva Detect Novel Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease,” was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease earlier, while the second part of the research, known as “Alzheimer’s Biomarkers From Multiple Modalities Selectively Discriminate Clinical Status: Relative Importance of Salivary Metabolomics Panels, Genetic, Lifestyle, Cognitive, Functional Health, and Demographic Risk Markers,” was issued more recently in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience journal.